Big names feature in PSL replacement draft

The second edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) is all set to kick off in a couple of weeks. The T20 league was a big hit in its inaugural season and had managed to garner a lot of fans. The international attraction made it a crowd favorite across the cricket playing nations. Recently, on Monday, the five participating franchises met under one roof to elect their players for the replacement drafts.

The replacement drafts for the PSL were picked at the National Cricket Academy at Lahore. The meeting saw the franchises choose their players in case some members of their team are unavailable midway through the season. The draft contained the names of players who would replace the players that fail to participate in the PSL this year due to a variety of reasons – ban, availability, injury or NOC.

Here are the team wise players picked in the replacement draft for the second edition of PSL:

Islamabad United

The defending champions retained the West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell for the season. Russell was recently injured during the ongoing edition of the Big Bash League. He is expected to be fit for the tournament.

Also read- Sarfraz Ahmed likely to be named Pakistan ODI captain

Lahore Qalandars

Dwayne Bravo, the veteran T20 allrounder from West Indies, is injured and hence will be replaced by swashbuckling English opener Jason Roy. Roy will be available for the tournament till February 20. New South Wales off-spinner Chris Green has replaced the injured Australian pacer Shaun Tait. Former New Zealand allrounder James Franklin has replaced another Kiwi all-rounder Anton Devcich.

Peshawar Zalmi

English opener Alex Hales was recently injured during the ODI series against India. He will be replaced by West Indies veteran batsman Marlon Samuels. Bangladesh’s all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has made himself unavailable for the season and has been replaced by former Sri Lankan cricketer Tillakaratne Dilshan. They have the budget to replace one more player and are yet to make the pick.

Karachi United

Karachi United have found themselves in a good spot. They have no injury concerns and all their players are available for the second edition of the PSL.

Quetta Gladiators

The Gladiators will miss the services of Afghanistan international Mohammad Nabi as he is unavailable for the season. He will be replaced by South African batsman Rilee Rossouw. The hero of the World T20 finals, Carlos Brathwaite, is also unavailable. He will be replaced by English allrounder Moeen Ali. Another player who will not be available for the Gladiators this year will be Caribbean allrounder Rovman Powell. Thisara Perera, the Sri Lankan allrounder, replaces him.